Eskom lying about coal shortage to earn Rupert cash - EFF

Coal News - Published on Mon, 10 Dec 2018

Citizen quoted the party as saying that the Eskom situation shows that state capture in SA continues. The EFF has released a statement rejecting claims by struggling power utility Eskom that South Africa is suffering from coal shortages. The party alleges the parastatal is using a “fictional shortage of coal” as an excuse for using independent power producers (IPPs). According to the EFF, these power producers sell hugely marked-up electricity to the power utility. The party cites the figure of R2.22 per kilowatt, claiming the utility then sells the electricity to users for only 89c, or less in the case of corporations.

The statement said that these power producers have entered into a 20 year long deal with Eskom, who are now forced to fake a coal shortage to justify this. “Eskom has admitted that IPPs are a liability to the utility, and can only serve to destabilise the financial crisis confronting the strategic asset,” it continues.

The party said that coal producers in Mpumalanga and other parts of the country are sitting with stockpiles of coal, which Eskom is ignoring because they want to keep handing over power generation capabilities to these private companies. The EFF then makes the claim that the “deployees of white monopoly capital on the Eskom board” are to give to people like businessman Johan Rupert.